Val d'Isère & Tignes: Olympic Wine

Atelier d'Edmond earned its 2 Michelin stars in a stone farmhouse at 1,850m — the kind of restaurant where the Michelin inspectors arrive by helicopter and leave converted. The wine list focuses on Savoie and Jura producers that most French sommeliers have never tasted. La Folie Douce invented high-altitude après-ski with live DJs at 2,600m — cabaret dancers on tables, fur-coated crowds in ski boots, and champagne at prices that reflect the altitude.

Dick's Tea Bar has been the late-night institution since 1979 — three generations of British season workers have made it their parliament. Tignes adds its own drama: the Grande Motte glacier for year-round skiing, and a drowned village. Old Tignes was flooded in 1952 when EDF built the Chevril dam — the church spire was visible above the waterline for decades, and every dry summer reveals the ghost town below. Above the reservoir, a new generation of Savoie winemakers experiments with how altitude changes fermentation — thin air, UV intensity, and temperature swings create wines that taste like nowhere else. Two resorts, one border-pushing wine culture.